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Mutant creatures?

Qiyu turned his hopeful gaze toward the darkness. Would there be another wave of mutated creatures?

He waited intently, but after a few minutes, it remained completely silent.

Qiyu was puzzled. Could it be that the rules differed from one area to another? Just as he thought this, the Survival Panel lit up again:

【God Has No Form: My mistake. There are no mutated creatures.】

【God Has No Form: Do you guys experience mental pollution at night, too?】

【I Love Survival Game: Yes.】

【God Has No Form: After midnight, this mental pollution gets stronger. I just sensed some movement and thought a mutated creature was coming again, but it turned out to be just auditory hallucinations.】

Qiyu, who still hadn’t heard a thing: …

But it wasn’t a big deal; he could open the zone chat channel.

Indeed, people were wailing that the howling and wailing outside had grown louder.

Some were so overwhelmed they’d given up, declaring they’d had enough of the torment and were heading into the darkness to die quickly and be reborn. 

The number of players in the zone chat had already dropped by over four thousand.

Qiyu glanced at the time. That meant there were only thirty minutes left until the newbie period ended—and in that short time, over three thousand people had died.

【God Has No Form: I don’t know how we ended up as friends, but meeting across servers is a kind of fate. Want to chat? What are the differences between your server and ours?】

【I Love Survival Game: Sure.】

The start of the game was pretty much the same for both sides—they both appeared alone in the shelter.

The only difference was the starting shelter: Qiyu’s Server 01 had a small wooden cabin, while God Has No Form’s group had a stone house. The novice chest and daily resource chest were pretty much the same.

Qiyu isn’t a talkative person, but he always manages to get the key points across in just a few words.

【God Has No Form: So your safe zone is full of trees and flowers, and even the monsters are just rabbits and piglets. Are all of you in Zone 01 just super lucky?】

【God Has No Form: As soon as we step outside, there’s nothing but sandstorms. In the safe zone, I’ve only seen one type of plant in three days: cacti.】

【Qiyu: Then how do you get resources to upgrade your shelters?】

【God Has No Form: Mining, of course. There are stone mines and iron mines. Mining yields resources, and while mining, small monsters spawn randomly—killing them drops loot.】

Qiyu blinked slowly.

He opened the shelter upgrade requirements and stared at the line “200 green-quality stone materials, 50 green-quality iron ore” several times.

【I Love Survival Game】 has sent you a trade request. 

Dan Xingyu clicked on it in confusion. 

【300g Banyan Plum for 1 Stone.】

【I Love Survival Game: I picked this while chopping wood—should I eat it?】 

Dan Xingyu: ??!!

【God Has No Form: Godfather!】

To be honest, this banyan plum isn’t exactly tasty—it’s more tart than sweet.

But supplies are scarce in the desert. Dan Xingyu isn’t short on food—especially meat—but both water and vegetables are rare.

The survival game isn’t actually too harsh on Zone 88—even though it’s a desert, the actual temperature never exceeds 30 degrees. It’s just that staring at yellow sand day in and day out naturally makes one crave fresh plants.

If he put this handful of banyan plums in the trade channel, he could probably trade them for quite a few good items. Qiyu ignored his remark and stated his purpose bluntly:

【I Love Survival Game: It looks like our two zones have different resources; we can trade with each other in the future.】

Dan Xingyu was thinking the same thing.

The two then turned to discussing tonight’s mutant creature invasion.

Dan Xingyu mentioned that most of the monsters they encountered were small creatures called fire-tailed scorpions—non-venomous, but their stings were excruciatingly painful. The drops from basic resource packs were roughly the same, though their primary resource consumption was stone materials.

Qiyu felt that this new friend of his was a bit loud. He thought of another good friend, Civil Engineering Brother.

He wondered: Maybe people from Earth are just this enthusiastic?

Dan Xingyu also thought this new friend was a little too quiet.

He had originally assumed that anyone who chose an abstract ID like “I Love Survival Game” would likely be a goofball. But to his surprise, once they actually started chatting, he turned out to be a man of few words and… quite sincere? 

Perhaps because they weren’t on the same server, he felt more at ease with Qiyu than he would with players from his own server.

Although there were no mutated creatures around right now, no one dared to go to sleep at this hour. Dan Xingyu decided to just chat with Qiyu about random topics.

He said that before coming to the survival game, he’d saved up a huge chunk of money—enough to cover his expenses for several years. Then, out of the blue, he got transported into the game.

【God Has No Form: If I’d known I’d get transported into a survival game, I wouldn’t have been so frugal. What a loss.】

Qiyu didn’t know what to say.

【I Love Survival Game: You’re pretty impressive.】

From their previous chat, Dan Xingyu could tell this new friend was a down-to-earth person. Compliments from down-to-earth people are always especially sincere.

He thought smugly, Of course I’m awesome.

The “money he had saved for the next few years” was actually for his college tuition and living expenses. 

He didn’t mention this because he didn’t want people to look down on him because of his young age. 

But on this lonely late night, he felt an inexplicable urge to confide in someone.

The origins of this close friend were mysterious—wasn’t that, in itself, a kind of mysterious fate? 

【God Has No Form: Do you know how I saved up that money?】

Qiyu wasn’t particularly curious about it, but since he couldn’t sleep on this quiet night, he figured listening to a story wouldn’t be a bad idea.

【God Has No Form: You know that game, right? I did account boosting for people—got the hang of it in a week and racked up six national server titles in a month.】

He waited a moment, but no praise came. 

He grew wary.

【God Has No Form: You aren’t one of those parents who thinks gaming is a waste of time and strongly disapprove of it, are you?】

Come to think of it, he didn’t even know how old his new friend was.

【I Love Survival Game: No, I’ve just never played this game.】 

Actually, he’s never even heard of it.

But Qiyu didn’t know what this game was all about. What if everyone on Earth knew about it? Wouldn’t that give him away?

【God Has No Form: You’ve never played it? How old are you? Pretty much everyone I know is playing it.】

Qiyu paused for a moment, then cautiously typed a number:

【I Love Survival Game: 29.】

Dan Xingyu immediately pictured a silent, pale office drone.

【God Has No Form: What a coincidence. I’ll be turning twenty-eight in a few days—a little younger than you.】

The moment he typed it, he sensed something was off. At this age, making a living by playing games for others—wasn’t that a bit too implausible? 

To his surprise, his new friend was very accommodating.

【I Love Survival Game: I’m a loner with no friends, so I wouldn’t know.】

The image in his mind shifted from a silent, pale office drone to a silent, pale otaku. The kind who’s a bit out of touch with society and his surroundings. 

How could someone like that choose a gaming ID like that? Curious, he naturally asked:

【God Has No Form: Why did you choose that name?】

【I Love Survival Game: Because I’m grateful to this Survival Game. Since coming here, my life has improved so much.】

Dan Xingyu: ???

【God Has No Form: Dude, are you sure you’re not just being abstract?】

【I Love Survival Game: What do you mean by “being abstract”?】 

Ugh.

Dan Xingyu felt a twinge of exasperation.

Looks like he’s not some silent, socially awkward otaku, but a poor little bitter gourd with a tragic fate. Oh, correction—a 29-year-old, adorably clueless giant bitter gourd.